This software outlined above will be easier to develop than one might expect, because it is based on a simple but totally new model for how to use money online. This home page shows just one application of the proposed new infrastructure. Eventually there will be many others — often assembled from pre-existing parts, almost as easily as starting a blog.
But the basic idea, while simple, is so new and unfamiliar that many people get confused and give up trying to understand this project. If that happens to you, just forget about the following paragraph for now.
We propose that online accounts be allowed to reproduce (replicate) — creating new, independent accounts; these “children” accounts can also reproduce, creating grandchildren, and ultimately family trees of ancestor and descendant accounts. Why do this? Because the new accounts can instantly inherit dozens or even hundreds of services and other settings at birth, all set up and ready to go — allowing effective management of multitudes of services, including some that require no user attention (such as accounts that self-destruct under certain conditions and return any remaining money automatically). These accounts will evolve autonomously through practical community use, toward becoming more attractive to people.
This account-reproduction infrastructure, apparently unknown in the history of money (and impossible before e-commerce), will allow accounts to do much more than they can do today — making new business models feasible. The example above for paying artists online is only one application of replicating accounts, though perhaps the most important one.
We chose the name RepliCounts because it is unique, suggestive, and easy to search since almost all results are relevant. We capitalized the ‘C’ so that people won’t misread the name as “replicants.” This capitalization is never required.
For More Information See Our Old Site
We are changing this site to make it easier to understand. Until this change is finished, you can use the old site for more information. Or contact us, jj at replicounts.org.
Page updated 2010-10-29